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January 29, 2013

Morgan Stanley Nabs 5 UBS Advisors

The latest recruits should come on board with about $750 million in assets and nearly $5 million in yearly production

Morgan Stanley CEO James Gorman. (Photo: AP)

Morgan Stanley (MS) said late Tuesday that it recruited one advisor and one team from UBS (UBS) recently with close to $4.5 million in combined fees & commission and $750 million in total assets.

Kevin Cooper joined Morgan Stanley in Boca Raton, Fla. He has had $1.6 million in yearly production and prior assets of $400 million, and now reports to complex manager Bert White.

The Ryan Group -- John Ryan, David Nelson, James Gallagher and Philip Martinho – came on board Morgan Stanley in Shrewsbury, N.J. The team, which now reports to branch manager Todd Sacks, has combined production of $2.84 million and prior assets of $350 million.

In mid-January, Morgan Stanley -- which is led by James Gorman -- said it would cut 1,600 jobs, mainly in its investment banking and other institutional-services operations in the United States and overseas.

In the fourth quarter, the firm said it had 16,780 FAs, down 29 reps from the prior quarter and off 4% from last year’s tally of 17,512. Average annualized revenue per rep, though, was $824,000, an improvement of 4% from the prior quarter and 13% from last year.

UBS is set to report its latest quarterly and annual earnings on Feb. 5. In late December, it agreed to pay more than $1.5 billion to authorities in the United States, United Kingdom and Switzerland over LIBOR manipulation and related charges. It also disclosed that the resolution of these regulatory and legal issues should result in a fourth-quarter net loss of up to $2.7 billion.

Despite these setbacks, UBS recruited a team with four advisors and about $2.8 million in production from Morgan Stanley in mid-January.

And Raymond James (RJF) grabbed two Morgan Stanley teams over the past week with a total of nearly $1.64 million in yearly fees and some $216 million in combined assets.